To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before

• Author: Jenny Han
• Genre: YA Romance
• Publication Date: April 15, 2014
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
• Series: To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before #1

CONTENT WARNING: death of a parent

Lara Jean keeps her love letters in a hatbox her mother gave her. 

They aren’t love letters that anyone else wrote for her, these are ones she’s written. One for every boy she’s ever loved — five in all. When she writes, she can pour out her heart and soul and say all the things she would never say in real life, because her letters are for her eyes only. Until the day her secret letters are mailed, and suddenly Lara Jean’s love life goes from imaginary to out of control. 

This was a cute, fluffy read that I enjoyed reading. Although things moved a little slowly at first, the plot moved along at a fairly nice pace for most of the book, and it was easy to get caught up in.

Lara Jean is a young girl who is a lot more responsible than most girls her age, but she’s also kind of a goody-goody. Rather than expressing how she feels directly to the guys that she likes, she writes them love letters that she never planned on sending. But when the letters somehow get sent out, her whole world gets turned upside down. And somehow Lara Jean gets wrapped up in a fake relationship to lessen the damage. Which, of course, is one of my favorite tropes in romance. 

I liked the take on fake dating in this book, especially since I haven’t really seen it done in YA romance. It was intriguing to see Lara Jean bloom over the course of the story, and slowly realize what she wanted, as well as becoming comfortable going after it. One of my favorite parts of the story was seeing Lara Jean mature, especially in relation with her other family members.

And speaking of family members, I can’t possibly write a review without mentioning my favorite person: Kitty. She was hands down the star of the show. For a young kid, she had an incredible array of snappy comebacks, but also some great insight into the people around her. I loved her best out of everyone in the entire book, and it was great to see how she related to all of the characters. 

Normally, I don’t really like when a book has an open-ended conclusion, but I think it kind of suited the story really well. Plus, since I know that this is a series, I’m curious to see where the next book goes. I’m already invested in Lara Jean’s story.